My name is Carter LaCorte and I am a 5th grader from Long Island, NY. I started this blog so I could write articles about the NHL and MLB. My favorite teams are the New York Yankees and the New York Islanders.

Saturday, February 4, 2017

MLB offseason: top 5 winners this winter

This offseason, many MLB players have moved around, and many have chosen to remain with the same squad they were on last year. Some teams didn't get what they wanted, but many did. Here are the top 5 teams this winter.

1. Cleveland Indians. They had 1 big free agent from their AL championship team: Mike Napoli. Napoli remains unsigned, and there are rumors he is going to Texas, but the tribe replaced him by signing 2 time 40+ HR guy Edwin Encarnacion to be their 1B/DH. They also signed LHP Boone Logan to be their LOGY (lefty one out guy, basically guy who comes in just to face a lefty, usually a good one. David Ortiz was a good example of a hitter a LOGY would face.) Logan will join a stacked bullpen that features superstar Andrew Miller, who was acquired last trade deadline. They are definitely poised for another championship run.
2. Chicago White Sox. They did trade away stars Chris Sale and Adam Eaton, but the White Sox improved A LOT. They had one of the league's lesser farm systems going into the offseason, and came out with the league's second best. (to NYY) They acquired MLB's second best prospect, (according to MLB pipeline) 2B Yoan Moncada from Boston, as well as Michael Kopech and Luis Alexander Basabe from the Bo-sox. They also got 3rd best pitching prospect Lucas Giolito from the Nationals in the Eaton trade, also receiving Reynaldo Lopez and Dane Dunning in the switch, beefing up their system.
3. Boston Red Sox. As mentioned earlier, the Red Sox did give up Moncada, Kopech and others, but received ace Chris Sale. Boston now has Sale, Cy Young winners Rick Porcello ('16) and David Price ('12) in their rotation. In the same day, they acquired RP Tyler Thornburg from Milwaukee and signed 1B Mitch Moreland, and are now AL favorites.
4. St. Louis Cardinals. Last year, the Cardinals had a rotten offseason, losing OF Jason Heyward and RHP John Lackey to their rivals, the Chicago Cubs, and watched them win the World Series this October. This year, they got payback on the Cubs, signing OF Dexter Fowler away from them, though they forfeited their first round draft pick in the making. The Cardinals also signed LHP Brett Cecil (a link to an article will be in the 5th team's paragraph) to beef up an already strong bullpen.
5. Houston Astros. The Astros might have disappointed in 2016, but GM Jeff Luhnow made sure that didn't repeat in 2016, by trading for catcher Brian McCann, signing OFs Josh Reddick (here's where the Cecil article is too) and Carlos Beltran, plus SP Charlie Morton. Houston, we no longer have a problem.